Educational Visits

Year 6 attended a Junior Citizens educational visit as part of our Citizenship weeks. The children took part in a series of workshops aimed to support them and keep them safe as they transition into secondary school. These included: online safety, Transport for London, First Aid and fire safety. The children took a lot from these sessions and enjoyed their morning with the facilitators.

On Wednesday 22nd January 2025, 1Y went to the V&A museum in Bethnal Green.

Year 4 visited the Roman Amphitheatre in the Guildhall art gallery. This was part of our History Unit the Romans. Year 4 had the chance to use this enquiry skills to find out more about different artefacts from the Roman period. They also had a chance to pretend to be gladiators in an arena.

Some pupils in year 6 visited the Houses of Parliament. They had a tour of the buildings including the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The workshop taught them about how Laws are decided on and passed and the process they go through, from debate to being made law. They also learnt about the role of MPs and Lords and looked at the differences in the roles.

On Thursday 28th November, children from Year 5 and 6 attended the AIM High Maths day to challenge their mathematical thinking.

On Friday 22nd November 2024, Year 6 visited the Natural History Museum. They took part in a volcanoes workshop where they helped to replicate a volcanic eruption.

Some of the children in years 5 and 6 enjoyed a day spent with a professional poet, Neal Zetter. They created their own poetry and learnt how to edit and improve their writing too.

Year 3 were lucky enough to take part in a workshop hosted by Elys Dolan at Plaistow Library. Year 3 helped Elys to create a new character for her story Rex, Dinosaur in Disguise. Children had a fantastic time meeting and working with Elys.

To start off our school year, Year 5’s from both St Helen’s and St Joaquim's went to Ayelford to discover the historic sanctuary where St Simon Stock’s relic is kept. While there we were able to join in different activities to find out more about Aylesford and why it is so important. We were able to walk around the actual shrine and find out about its history, draw our interpretation of the shrine itself, pray the rosary and understand the importance of different mysteries in the rosary. Not only that but we were able to visit the shop and put our Maths knowledge to good use. To end what was a lovely day we had a Mass with both schools, especially as it was the start of the year, it was one way we all come together and pray collectively for a good year.

Together with the Year 6 pupils from St Helen’s and St Joachim's attended their annual Science Camp at Kingsdown in Kent. The children spent the week completing a range of science lessons which involved investigating habitats, learning about coastal erosion and beach combing. They also took on some traditional camping activities such as orienteering, Forest School, and archery. The children also had the opportunity to venture out on fact finding walks to places like Deal and take part in some sea swimming. Children also walked the coastal path along the white cliffs to St Margaret's at See, the nearest point of England to France. On our final full day we took part in a prayer service to reflect on the whole week and the reasons behind it. Before returning to school the children visited Howletts Wildlife Park where they further developed their understanding of animals and their habitats. The children enjoyed the camp for the science but also for the new friendships they formed with pupils from each school.